“Orient readers with an ‘establishing’ shot. Anchoring readers can often be done best by taking a cue from the movies . . . [Y]ou can present the setting and the characters’ positions within it in as little as a sentence or two.”

“Set the tone . . . give readers accurate presuppositions about the type of tale they’re going to be reading. Your beginning needs to set the stage for the denouement– without, of course, giving it away.”